Apple Almond Sticky Buns

Submitted by Rita1652

"This recipe uses a biga it's a pre-fermented dough that the French call a pate fermentee. It's started with a bit of yeast, and allowed to work for several hours. The advantage of making a biga is that because it ferments for a long time, which adds flavor and character to the bread. These are best eaten when fresh, although a few minutes in the oven the next day will bring them back almost to their freshness. Go ahead and use your favorite nuts or skip them. I leave some skin on my apple for the fiber and extra nutrients."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 20mins
• Ingredients: 20
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• Biga

• 7 ounces water
• 3 ounces pumpernickel flour or 3 ounces rye flour
• 5 ounces bread flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon bread machine yeast
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt

• Dough

• 12 ounces water
• 1 ounce nonfat dry milk powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 1⁄4 teaspoons salt
• 4 - 4 1⁄2 cups bread flour

• Filling

• 6 granny smith apples, peeled and diced
• 1 1⁄2 cups almonds, sliced
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cardamom

• Gooey Goodness

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 3⁄4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1⁄3 cup almond liqueur or 1/3 cup walnut liqueur

directions

1. Biga:

2. Place all of the biga ingredients in bread machine set on dough cycle, When cycle is finished unplug, close, and set aside 8 hours (overnight).

3. Dough:

4. Place all of the dough ingredients in the bucket of your machine over the biga, program for Dough or Manual, and press Start.
5. Keep an eye on the dough; scrape down the sides of the bucket, and add flour and/or water if necessary. When the kneading cycle is done, remove the dough and place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let it rest/rise for about 45 minutes.
6. Take out the dough, gently deflate it by folding it in onto itself, turn it over, and place it back in the bowl. Let it continue to rise for a further 45 minutes to an hour.

7. Optional:

8. For a softer apple precook apples in a hot pan with melted butter till apple are softened about 8 minutes.

9. Meanwhile:

10. Mix the filling ingredients together, set aside.
11. When the dough has finished rising, take it out of the bowl and place it on floured surface.
12. Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin, until it's a rectangle of approximately 15 x 22 inches.
13. Spread 6 tablespoons of butter gently over the surface of the dough, leaving a good half-inch around the outside edge. Sprinkle a half a cup of brown sugar over the buttered dough, Distribute two-thirds of the apples and nut mixture on top, and gently roll up the dough, starting with a long edge. Pinch the ends and edge tightly together, to seal.
14. Rub the remaining butter generously onto the bottom and up the sides of a 12 x 12-inch sticky bun pan (or a 9 x 13-inch rectangular pan).
15. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar, then layer in the remaining apples and nut mixture on the brown sugar; drizzle almond liqueur over apples.
16. Using a serrated knife, cut the rolled-up dough into 16 pieces, and place them over the apples in the pan. For even cuts I start my first cut right down the middle then cut the middle of the cuts and so on.
17. Cover and let rise until they're quite puffy and very tight in the pan.
18. Preheated 350°F oven.
19. Bake the buns for 35 to 45 minutes.
20. When they're done, you can either leave them as is in the pan, or carefully flip them out. Either side as up!
21. Pull apart and enjoy these finger licking good treats!

Reviews

[bluesagegirl]

The dough for this was just beautiful to work with. Making a biga the day before really adds great flaver to the bread! If you have time this is definately the way to go! I had to play with the filling, a couple of times. The apples weren't as done as I wanted them to be. So I finally cooked the apples first. Over all a great recipe which I will be making again!!